Finance minister's controversial decree

Finance minister's controversial decree

From Bisnis Indonesia

By the end of his office, the Minister of Finance issued a decree that will surely make certain public circles delighted. According to the minister, it was meant to assist the economically weak community.

The decree allows up to 50 percent of principal debt reduction besides exemption from loan interest and interest on fines, particularly for the purpose of invigorating the sector of small- and medium-scale businesses (UKM).

However, laymen will question why the decision is retroactively effective, seemingly meant to justify previous policies. Even a small debtor cannot easily get a repayment period extension from a state bank, let alone such a haircut.

The other question arises whether the target of assistance is truely the UKM community or the group of conglomerates, in view of the fact that only a very small number of UKM units receive bank loans worth billions of rupiah.

Therefore, everything in this case should be transparent so as not to make the rescue of UKM an excuse for the decision, only to inflict considerable loss to the state treasury.

TAUFIK KARMADI Jakarta